You (or somebody) is sure to write back saying that most fat people are not in the middle of losing a lot of weight, and this could be true. The point is, YOU DON'T KNOW, and therefore should hold off on judging them .

I have 20 lbs. left to get to my ideal weight. I work out daily for at least an hour, and harder than a lot of people I see at the gym. I am probably more physically fit than a lot of thin people who won the genetic lottery (which is really how a lot of people end up being thin, ie my sister, who exercises once a week, if that much).

I am adopted, thus the genetic lottery/thin sister who doesn't exercise comment makes sense.

I dunno. My experience has been universally that more attractive people "do better" in the workplace, regardless of size.

I also have always thought that people with lousy self-esteem don't do as well in the workplace.

Could it be that the bigger issue is that these heavier women have lower self-esteem, and thus do not behave in a way to maximize their earning potential?

I dunno. I do know that I've had hundreds of conversations with women about their unhappiness in the workplace because of some emotional issue between them and their bosses. I haven't had enough similar conversations with men to even remember ONE of them.

That's pretty amazing.

I suspect the "findings" mentioned in this posting are scientifically worthless. As was previously mentioned, there's no methodology at all. This all sounds like hand-waving.

It's amazing to me that the editor of Broadsheet posted a study showing that large white women face reduced wages as compared to ANY OTHER group and the discourse here has been comprised of:

Hey, it's okay to hate fat people; they are unhealthy (The cult of purity - we've given up chastity as the puritan virtue, now we hate large people, looking at them with our schoolmarmy attitudes.)

It's the fault of large white women, they deserve less for being large. (of course a large, anything else -- that's okay, they deserve the raises).

It's not MY fault for being large.

Hey, I'm so dispassionate, compassionate that I really CARE about health...so...it's okay that large fat women get punished on job reviews.

Hey, when I lost weight, I was so energetic that maybe that is why large white women get less -- they actually ARE badder on the job. rationalize, rationalize -- HEY that makes it OKAY (of course, this energetic effect of losing weight DOESN'T impact ANY other group, just white women get raises when losing weight).

Hey, I don't notice it, so it must not be there. So this study that adjusted for other effects by professionals must not be trusted over my nieghborhood observation.

I wonder what all these folks will think when they meet God and she's a fat white woman. I joke. Because surely there is no lower creature. It would be like I named a teddy bear by the name of a fat white woman.

What about compassion and equality for all? What about rewarding people for their performance? What does it mean when we don't give money incentives for good performance on par with other groups? Does it become a self-fulfilling prophesy? It's not okay to treat a segment of a work population far differently than another. I applaud Broadstreet for having the nerve to publish this study.

I think the worst part of this thread are the handwringing people writing in to say how they are working on losing weight. And even though they are large, they are hard working, great, non depressed people and working on losing weight to become clean, somehow.

It's like the message is, "soon I'll pass for one of the non-hated." I'll pass. Too bad I'm not a black man, because then I'd get a raise.

It's like fat white women are the "nig**ers" of the workplace, their hatred is endorsed by the power groups and the noncaring society as a whole. Update your "okay to hate" list, and put fat white women at the top of your list. When it hits your paycheck, but not men, not people of other races, it really does warrant using that word.

It's okay to pay them less. It's okay to hate them. It's okay to state there is some sort of caste or natural order that puts them at the bottom of the stack.

At one time, they said that about black people. It must be that they perform worse that they are not getting the promotions. Furthermore, there is something about their biological makeup that makes them inferior. When I see people arguing that depression or something biological is making fat white women have this effect of getting less, while it effects no other group, I have to wonder.

I did feel like any mention of losing weight could be construed as "See? I'll soon be one of the GOOD PEOPLE, so don't hate on me, okay?" That wasn't my point at all. People should be treated with respect no matter what they look like (unless they're assholes). I was just pointing out that you can't even tell who has a healthy lifestyle or not, who's making positive changes or not, merely by looking at someone for two seconds. Jeez, not only can a thin person be an alcoholic, a drug addict, bulimic, anorexic, etc. etc., they could also be someone who just hasn't gotten fat--yet. I've seen it happen too often.

I am not going to comment on the race or gender issues raised in the article. I am not even going to comment on the article itself. I am just going to say that, judging by some of the letters here, if some folks are in supervisory positions and discriminating against workers based upon weight, they could get sued.

I worked for three years in the field of vocational rehabilitation with disabled people. People can be legally disabled due the physical or mental conditions or due to certain types of alcoholism. This is because even our stingy govermental powers that be have recognized that some types of alcoholism have a strong genetic component. In other words, not all recalcitrant alcoholism is due to behavior mainly but due to one's physical makeup. The same is true of some reasons for obesity. Endocrine disorders, back injury, and being medicated for certain mental illnesses can all cause weight gain because of the limitations caused by the illness or because of the illness itself. Welcome to the real world, judgmental ones!

Allow me to explain about the medication for certain mental illnesses affecting weight. First, antiphychotics are prescribed for bipolar, schizoaffective, schizphrenic, and some depressive disorders. There are many people on antipsychotics today who do not realize that they are on them because they think they are only being medicated for depression. Not true! If a depression involves ruminative or repetive thoughts -- including suicidal ideation -- antiphychotics are often prescribed. Antipsychotics can cause a ravenous hunger and a weight gain of 85-100 pounds. Doctors don't always warn their patients about this and phamaceutical inserts only mention weight gain as a possible side effect but do not mention how much weight it is possible to gain. Now the drug companies have good reason not to want people to know this and doctors don't want to take a chance that their patients will off themselves.

SSRIs are frequently prescribed antidepressants. The average weight gain with some types of SSRIs is 35 pounds. Upon first taking SSRIs, a patient might actually lose appetite and lose weight but this effect is soon gone and replaced by a boomerrang effect in which weight is actually gained. SSRIs also effect the endocrine system and appetite. (SSRIs sometimes actually cause suicidal ideation.)

Even old style antidepressants like Elavil can cause weight gain. Elavil is a good antidepressant and rarely causes suicidal ideation and it often helps people sleep much better, but a person can gain 50 pounds on an extended course of Elavil. All medicines that help people sleep can cause weight gain if taken over a long period of time. Even Benedryl can cause some weight gain.

Other culprits are food additive and seratonin enhancing supplements.

Exercise (especially regular aerobic exercise) can help improve mood and control weight, but not all people can do aerobic exercise because most aerobic exercises are high impact. Weight training builds muscle and thus causes the body to burn more fat. Almost everyone can to some form of weight lifting exercise. People with back problems can lift hand weights while sitting in a chair.

Some of you people amaze me. You are so cruel and ugly to others.

Any disabled person can be discriminated against if the discrimination results from prejudice and not that person's inability to actually perform the required tasks of the job. You can't just eyeball a person and say, "I think this person is too fat to work." If that fat person is disabled due to disability but can still perform the work and you discriminate, you are breaking the law. Frankly, I look forward to some of you being sued. Many people cannot help being fat, but there is no excuse for being just plain nasty.

Pretty is as pretty does.